PLEASE NOTE IMPORTANT CHANGES

Please note that it is my intention to close this blog in the near future and concentrate on the Museum's new web site which can be found at;
www.MuseumOfTheMasterSaddler.com

Also note the slightly altered title of the web site, (no THE at the beginning)
This blog gave me the experience to write, design and publish a site on the web and it is my intention now to build the new web site into an interesting and informative site.

The blog written by my horse Mr. Tibbs,
www.HorseCalledMrTibbs.blogspot.com will remain unchanged and will be updated at more regular intervals, or so he tells me !!!

EXCITING NEW DEVELOPMENTS FOR THE MUSEUM

Exciting new developments are taking place for the museum with the creation of a brand new web site, its own publishing company and a regular Newsletter. Visit the new web site on www.MuseumOfTheMasterSaddler.com

where you will find all the news, books, equestrian art and a whole lot more.

The museum has also registered its own publishing company through which it will market its own books written by its joint curator, Robert H Steinke. Its first publication, Farm Harness Decoration, is well under way and should be out in August this year. Another title, The Victorian Saddler,is planned for the end of the year.

For those of you who would like to be kept up to date with the latest exhibits, news and events regarding the museum, please log onto the site and sign up on the Contact Us page.

This blog will not be affected as it will continue to take you through a virtual tour of the museum's exhibits.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM PART 14 Launch of Program for Heritage Week 2009

OPEN WEEKEND 29 & 30 AUGUST 2009

The Museum of the Master Saddler has recently unveiled its program for this years European Heritage Week. This years theme at the museum is “Harness Horse Decoration” which will host the official opening of the museum’s latest collection of exhibits in addition to the launch of the latest book by its curator Robert H Steinke which is based on this theme. Included in the new collection will be horse amulets from Roman and Medieval times, the forerunners of what we today recognise as horse brasses. Brasses and martingales range from the antique brasses of the mid 1800’s and early 1900’s, the heyday of their use, up to the collectible designs of today. A special section will document saddlers and harness makers whose names were often engraved on brass hinged noseband pieces, pad ornaments, drop pieces and metal buckle loops.

Rob and Moira will incorporate several of their animals into the weekends activity Their two miniature ponies, Rocky and Rambo, will be seen in their red trimmed tandem trade harness, while the latest addition to the stables, Sambooka, will come out of retirement to act as a mature model. The star of the show could well be Mr. Tibbs, their part Clydesdale cob who will no doubt be adorned with an array of highly decorated farm harness. To compliment the collection of working harness, the museum has on display a varied assortment of farm implements lovingly restored and repainted. Apart from the Open Weekend the museum is open at other times by appointment, please contact Rob and Moira to book a tour.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 13 Camel Muzzle

Beside the museum are stabled our personal horses and ponies used for riding and driving, we do not, as yet, have a camel.

However, when on holiday in Tunisia, North Africa last year we went on a camel ride and asked if we could have part of its harness to go in the museum. The groom immediately donated this muzzle which is made from hand woven rope.

They are worn by most of the camels in the tourist trade and represent yet another facet of bridle making.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 12 LEATHER HORSESHOE CASE

One of the rarer exhibits of the museum is this leather case especially made to hold spare horseshoes and shoeing nails.

It was made for the British Army, is dated 1943 and has the initials A.L.W. stamped onto the pouch used to hold the nails.

This case will now be displayed in the museum hanging from the back of a military saddle.

In the past cases to hold spare horseshoes were also carried on driving carriages in addition to specially made leather cases into which were fitted a set of farriers tools.

Before acquiring this particular horseshoe case, the museum made a modern version which now hangs from the 1896 Beaufort Cart.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 11 Hay Mower by Walter A Wood, Hoosick Falls, N.Y.

The Museum houses a collection of horse drawn farming impliments mainly of Irish origin. This mowing machine, however, is American, made by Walter A Wood of Hoosick Falls, N.Y. and is designed to be pulled by a pair of horses.

Walter A. Wood was born in Mason, New Hampshire on October 23, 1815. His father was a wagon and plough manufacturer. When he was a child the family moved to Rensselaerville, New York. During his early years, he worked in his father’s shop. At age twenty-one (1836), he moved to Hoosick Falls where he worked as a blacksmith for Parsons & Wilder. He was a blacksmith by trade and became an excellent machinist. After four years he moved to Nashville, Tennessee to work as a carriage maker. (1840)

In 1842, he moved back to Hoosick Falls and married Bessie Parsons, daughter of Seth Parsons. Seth Parsons had been his employer from 1836-1840.

Walter A. Wood purchased the Tremont Cotton Factory in 1855 to increase the production of the reaper. In 1852, he built two reapers and by 1858-59 he was producing 5,000 per year. In 1860, the plant was destroyed by fire. He immediately constructed a new plant. In July 1857, the Wood Reaper won first prize by the Syracuse Agricultural Society. In 1861, he patented the “chain rake reaper” that was so unique that it caught the attention of farmers all over the world. A mower was added as well as improvements on all the machines manufactured. By 1865, his reapers and mowers were so successful that financial people became interested in the Wood Company. In 1866, the company was organized as a stock company and called the “Walter A. Wood Mowing and Reaper Machine Company.”
The second large fire destroyed much of the Wood factory in 1870. They used the Caledonia Mill Building while the factory was being rebuilt. The output of the factory was about 8,000 units during this time. By 1890 the output had increased to approximately 90,000 units. During this time, the reapers and mowers won medals all over the world. (1862: Medal of Merit in England; 1867: Iron and Gold medal in Paris; 1873: medal in Vienna) The factory grew continuously and employment grew as Hoosick Falls prospered with the successful plant.

During the year 1878, in competitive trials, Wood's mower, reaper, and self-binding harvester took first prizes at Rome, Italy, and at fifty-four of the principal cities of England, Wales, Scotland, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Australia, Cape of Good Hope, Victoria, New Zealand, New South Wales, etc. From 1873 to 1877, inclusive, in 366 field-trials, these machines gained over 279 first prizes, including 88 gold medals, 64 silver medals, 8 bronze medals, 13 diplomas, 5 silver cups, and over 800 pounds in money.

We would like to thank Oliver & Rosemary for donating this mower to the Museum.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 10 Horse Brasses - an introduction

During the 1800’s, horse brasses developed from the horse amulets, which date back some 2000 years, to the intricate shaped patterns with which we are familiar today. The earlier types were actually made out of bronze, then brass covered lead, before pure brass was used.
The majority of the designs date from the heyday of their popularity, from 1850 until the beginning of the First World War. Many of these designs are embodied in the conventional sun or crescent shape. For the first jubilee of Queen Victoria, the first of a long series of commemorative brasses depicting royalty was produced, a tradition still carried on today.

Many brasses have been produced to commemorate a show or parade,the RSPCA have issued their own
brasses (in actual fact they were made out of pewter, a white metal) since 1896 and many modern-day parades and shows still keep up this tradition.

For instance Barley Saturday in Cardigan, West Wales was originally a hiring fair and has now developed into a parade of breeding stock and driving vehicles.
Each year every participant is presented with a horse brass, dated and suitable inscribed in Welsh, Aberteifi – Dydd Sadwrn Barlus.

While the most valuable brasses are those produced prior to 1900 and show signs of wear from having been used on horses, there is nonetheless a collectors market for more recently cast brasses. By this I do not mean the cheap mass
produced stamped brass which is so often seen sold as souvenirs but the carefully designed and cast brasses usually of a numbered edition and with the
maker identified on the back.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 9 The Mail Coach Guard

The Mail Coach Guard was the only Post Office employee on board the coach and wore an official uniform of scarlet coat with gold braid and blue facings. Guards used their 3ft. long horn, a yard of tin, to warn other road users to keep out of their way and to single to toll-keepers to let the coach through. It was also used to order a fresh team of horses while a furlong away from the staging stop so that when they arrived a change of horses was ready and waiting.
The regular mail was carried in a box the key for which can be seen attached to the leather bag carried around the guards neck which would have held the more important mail.
It was the responsibility of the guard to ensure that the mail got through and in order to protect the mail, the coach and its inhabitant, the guard was heavily armed with a blunderbuss and a pair of pistols.
In order to deliver the mail it was necessary of many occasions, when the coach was caught in snow drifts, to unhitch a pair of horses and proceed of horseback.

The coat seen here in the museum is adapted from an old frock style hunting coat and gives an insight into the traditional dress of the Mail Coach Guards.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 8 Show Farm Bridle

Every year the Royal Dublin Society host the National Craft Competition with the winners invited to display their work at the Dublin Horse Show. This stylish bridle was made by the museum's curator Rob Steinke for the 1997 competition and exhibited at that years show.It was made to fit a Clydesdale work horse and was cut, prepared and stitched entirely by hand. Note the rolled throat lash, the intricate fancy stitching on the head piece and the swelled cheekpieces. The head and browband have been lined in red patent leather and holes punched into the black leather to show the red underneath. The browband is made up with approx 40 individual brass clincher pieces and the rosettes are of the old styled beehive design.
The picture also shows some of the tools used to make this bridle, many of which are 100 years old.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 7 Victorian Child's Side Saddle

One of the most rare exhibits in the museum is a Victorian children's side saddle. This beautifully made saddle is hand stitched throughout with intricate leaf designs on the seat and flaps.

The saddle is not made on a traditional wooden tree but in the form of a flexible type pad to suit a younger rider. Contrary to popular belief, a lady or young girl does not sit to the side on a side saddle but with the shoulders, spine and hips in a straight line facing the front of the horse or pony. The lower part of the body then turns so that both legs are on the near side (left hand side). This can cause an imbalance in a young girls growth if they were to ride like this each day.

There were two ways to compensate for this. One way was to have two side saddles, one with the curved pommel on the near side and another to have a saddle with the pommel on the right hand side and for the young girl to alternate between the two saddles.

Another way, and this is how this particular side saddle is made, was to have a pommel that could be unscrewed from one side and fitted easily to the other. This way the rider would only have to have one side saddle.

The underneath of the side saddle showing the two straps that attach to the girth which holds the saddle to the pony. The large stitches are the quilting that holds the wool padding in place between the leather panel and the surge wool lining.

The museum would like to thank Annabel Cahill for this exhibit.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 6 Arabian Bridle

This beautifully made Arabian bridle is one of the outstanding exhibits in the museum. Although designed specially for an Arab horse, it is being modeled here by one of our horses,Bess, a part thoroughbred.

The bridle and matching breastcollar is hand woven in a thick wool as is each of the tassels. It is heavily adorned with shells and with a bead in every braid.

Take note that on this bridle there is no bit, rather the control of the horse is effected through pressure on the nose. A chain is used to place pressure on both the front and the back on the nose and as you can see here there are numerous small teeth like ornaments hanging from the chain. This is called a Dancing Noseband as these ornements jingle up and down when in use.

The bridle and breastcollar illustrated here was hand-made in Egypt especially for Bess and the museum.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 5 The Circus Pony

As part of European Heritage Week 2007 the museum put on a display entitled The Working Pony in which the varying aspects of a pony's life was portrayed in different styles of harness.
For the Circus Pony the museum's miniature Shetland pony, Rocky, wore this antique set of Liberty Harness with the addition of a pair of plumes in the Irish colours. You will notice that Rocky's mane has been plaited in red wool to compliment the harness.
It has long been tradition for ponies and horses to be used in the circus adorned in highly decorative harness which not only relied on bright colours and shining buckles but also lit up in lights with the batteries being carried in pouches on the animal.
This set of harness fits both of the museum's Shetlands and has been used on numerous occasions when the ponies have appeared in parades, parties and festivals.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 4 Young's Brewery Harness

On 15 September 2006 Young's Brewery delivered the last horsedrawn barrels of beer in London. As the two Clydesdales, Bomber and Buster, returned home so ended a 400 year old tradition of brewing at the Ram Brewery, Wandsworth.

The Museum is extremely fortunate to have this superb collar, hames and bridle dating from the 1920's donated to it by the Ram Brewery. The workmanship in these pieces of harness is truly first class. Take special note of the Ram emblem on the top of the collar and on each of the bridle winkers.

Beside the collar is the apron worn by drayman Henry on that last days delivery and which he so kindly donated to the Museum.

Around this display are photographs of the old Mountjoy Brewery in Dublin and various other Drays in multi horse hitches.

For this exhibit, the museum would like to thank the head coachman, Kevin Flynn and the directors of Young's & Co.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 3 The Pit Pony

An Act of Parliment in 1840's made it illeagel for women and children to work down the mines which, while it was good news for them, ment that mine owners now had to rely on small ponies to work underground.
Welsh Mountain, Fell, Dartmoor and Shetland ponies were all used to do this hard and dirty work, which at one time employed over 70,000 ponies.
They were from all reports well looked after by the miners and had special bridles made by the saddler to protect their faces especially the eyes. There were several different designs and the one shown here on our miniature Shetland pony, Rambo, has producing pieces of leather for added protection and is on display in the Museum.
In February 1994 the last of British Coal's ponies came up from Northumberland's Ellington Colliery where they had worked six miles under the North Sea so ending a long tradition stretching back to the 17th century.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 2 The Hosedrawn Post Project

As part of European Heritage Week 2008, the Museum launched its Horsedrawn Post Project which is an ongoing display documenting the role of the horse in the Irish postal service. The exhibition opened over the weekend of 23 & 24 August and features photos, maps, reward notices, information on Post Boys, delivery vehicles and robbers and highwaymen.
At a later date it is intended to revisit some of the old post routes and drive them using the Museum's 1896 Beaufort Cart. This beautiful varnished vehicle has been used for film work Scotland and is in perfect roadworthy condition. And, most importantly, we have the horse to pull it.
Prior to delivery vehicle the mail was carried by Post Boys mounted on horseback. On 5 July 1815 Charles Bianconi ran his jaunting cart for the first time carring six pasangers. Befor long he had established routes throught Ireland carring both passangers and the Royal Mail.

Charles Bianconi's Long Car 1838

Although not the first to operate a horsedrawn postal service in Ireland, he is the person most remembered for his vision and business expertise. His first Mail Carts had two wheels and were pulled by a single horse. As business grew and longer distances were covered he operated four wheeled carts and Mail Coaches with either a pair or a team of four horses.

Oriental Warrier

The orientals had artistally decorated armour, shields and textiles for both their horses and themselves. This warrier is using a baboo spear which was considerably stronger then woodern spears.

Ceremonial Chariot of King Ramesses II

A model from the museum depicting the ornate nature of the king's ceremonial harness. This model and other illustrations are based on the many mosaics that remain to this day.

TOUR OF THE MUSEUM Part 1 The Early Days

In order to document the early days of saddlery and harness the museum has to rely on models and illustrations. The invention of the carriage and its harness did not occur overnight. It cannot be credited to any one man, country or culture. Rather, it developed in varying ways around the world; a gradual process of adaption for specific requirements, terrain and culture of a particular area.
The earliest draught animal was probably man himself, pulling a sledge via a rope around his waist. Later man learned to harness the power of animals, although in the beginning it was more likely to be oxen rather then horses.
The model of King Ramesses II in his Ceremonial Chariot shows just how elaborate his harness was with precious stones, feathered plumes and engraved metals all used to embellish his turnout. Other illustrations of this king also show his horses covered in leopard skins in addition to leopards running alongside his chariot!